BCBA Exam (Board Certified Behavior Analyst) — All Questions

A BCBA trains a technician on a new prompting procedure by giving written instructions, demonstrating it, and having the technician rehearse it. Which behavioral skills training component is still missing?

• a.Feedback✓
• b.Modeling
• c.Instructions
• d.Task analysis

Behavioral skills training consists of instructions, modeling, rehearsal and feedback; Parsons, Rollyson and Reid (2012) describe the full sequence, with feedback on the rehearsal and repeating until the skill is performed correctly. The scenario already includes instructions, modeling (demonstration) and rehearsal. A task analysis may be used to write the instructions but is not one of the four components.

Technicians are skipping data collection. The BCBA finds that they can record data correctly when asked, but the data sheets are stored in an office down the hall. What is the most function-based first step?

• a.Issue a written warning to each technician
• b.Retrain all technicians on data collection
• c.Store data sheets where sessions occur✓
• d.Add a monthly bonus for complete data

Performance diagnostics such as the Performance Diagnostic Checklist-Human Services (Carr et al., 2013) separate skill deficits from problems with resources, processes, effort and consequences. The staff can perform the skill, so retraining targets the wrong cause; the barrier is response effort created by where the materials are kept. Warnings and bonuses change consequences without removing the barrier.

When giving a supervisee feedback on a session, which approach is most consistent with evidence-based performance management?

• a.Written corrections only, with no praise given
• b.Specific, prompt praise and corrective feedback✓
• c.General praise given at the end of each month
• d.Feedback only when an error causes harm to a client

Code 4.08 requires timely informal and formal praise and feedback designed to improve performance, and Code 4.06 calls for supervision that focuses on positive reinforcement. Specific and prompt feedback that covers both correct and incorrect performance meets both. Delayed general praise, corrections without praise, and feedback reserved for harmful errors do not.

Before a BCBA begins supervising a new trainee, which step best establishes an effective supervisory relationship?

• a.An informal chat with no written terms
• b.A verbal agreement to meet as needed
• c.A written contract with roles and expectations✓
• d.A plan to set expectations after the first evaluation

The TCO lists executing supervisor-supervisee contracts and establishing clear expectations as strategies for effective supervisory relationships, and Code 1.04 requires defining and documenting one's professional role in writing before providing services. Informal or verbal arrangements, or delaying expectations until an evaluation, leave responsibilities undefined.

A BCBA is asked to add a fourth trainee but already has little time for her current caseload. According to Code 4.03, she should

• a.assess her capacity, document it, and tell her employer✓
• b.accept, since trainees need supervisors
• c.accept and assign the trainee to a technician
• d.accept and shorten every trainee's meetings

Code 4.03 requires behavior analysts to take on only the number of supervisees or trainees that allows effective supervision, to consider client demands, caseload and resources, and, when they reach their threshold, to document that self-assessment and communicate it to their employer. Accepting in any of the ways listed would reduce supervision quality, and supervision cannot be handed to a technician.

A BCBA wants a supervisee to run preference assessments with clients. Under Code 4.09, what must happen before this task is delegated?

• a.The supervisee must have held the job for a year
• b.The client's family must sign a delegation form
• c.Confirming the supervisee is competent at it✓
• d.The supervisee must first pass the BCBA exam

Code 4.09 allows delegation to supervisees or trainees only after confirming they can competently perform the task and that the delegation complies with applicable requirements such as BACB rules, licensure and funder policies. Neither a family delegation form nor a length-of-employment requirement appears in the standard, and the Code does not require the supervisee to hold BCBA certification for a delegated task.

A BCBA must stop supervising a trainee because she is leaving the organization. Under Code 4.12, she should

• a.leave the trainee to arrange new supervision alone
• b.stop supervision on her last day without further steps
• c.sign off all remaining hours in advance
• d.plan the termination with all parties to limit harm✓

Code 4.12 requires that, when supervision is terminated for any reason, the behavior analyst works with all relevant parties to develop a plan that minimizes negative impacts to the supervisee or trainee, and documents actions and outcomes. Ending abruptly or leaving the trainee to arrange things alone does not meet this, and signing off hours not yet supervised would violate Code 1.01 on truthfulness.

A new technician often misses steps in a multi-step teaching procedure, but performs every step correctly when the BCBA models and rehearses with her. Which tool best supports accurate performance during sessions?

• a.A checklist of the procedure's steps✓
• b.A written reprimand placed in her file
• c.A longer session with no feedback
• d.Removing her from all client sessions

Task clarification with a checklist is an antecedent performance management strategy the TCO lists, and it addresses missed steps in a skill the technician can already perform when supported. A reprimand does not prompt the steps, removing feedback works against performance, and removing her from sessions stops practice rather than improving it.

A BCBA notices that one technician's performance problems have continued despite feedback. According to Code 4.08, what should she do next?

• a.Report the technician to the BACB
• b.Assign the technician only to easy clients
• c.Keep giving the same feedback for several months
• d.Create and carry out an improvement plan✓

Code 4.08 states that when performance problems arise, behavior analysts develop, communicate, implement and evaluate an improvement plan with clearly identified procedures for addressing the problem. Repeating feedback that has not worked, reporting a performance issue that is not misconduct, or quietly reducing the technician's role do not meet the standard.

A BCBA supervising three technicians gives the most observation time and development opportunities to the one who shares her background, while the other two get little. Which TCO task most directly addresses this?

• a.Evaluating supervision with data
• b.Selecting goals from a skills assessment
• c.Promoting equity in supervision practices✓
• d.Applying performance diagnostics

TCO I.3 calls for methods that promote equity in supervision practices, and Code 1.08 requires treating others in an equitable and inclusive manner. Distributing supervision based on shared background rather than need is inequitable. Selecting goals from an assessment (I.4), performance diagnostics (I.6) and data-based evaluation of supervision (I.7) are separate tasks that do not address who receives supervision time and opportunities.

During supervision, a BCBA notices that a trainee describes a family's cultural practices dismissively. Under Codes 1.07 and 4.07, the BCBA should

• a.address diversity and bias in supervision✓
• b.reassign the family to another trainee quietly
• c.tell the trainee to avoid discussing culture
• d.ignore it unless the family files a complaint

Code 1.07 requires behavior analysts to evaluate the biases of their supervisees and trainees and their ability to serve people of diverse backgrounds, and Code 4.07 requires actively incorporating and addressing diversity during supervision. Ignoring the issue, quietly reassigning the family, or avoiding the topic leaves the trainee's bias unaddressed.